Belfast’s Jurys Inn among dozens of hotels to be put on market by US private equity firm
BELFAST’S Jurys Inn could be put on sale as part of a huge package of developments set to go on the market, it has emerged.
US private equity group Lone Star is reportedly selling off 42 hotels across the globe, and is likely to make at least €300m (£260m) in profit on the business where Irish taxpayer-owned IBRC and other banks wrote off €300m in loans in 2013.
The Jurys Inn group will be among the businesses going on the market.
The hotels form part of the Amaris Hospitality group, formed by Lone Star two years ago to take on 89 hotels it acquired.
The US private equity firm bought the Jurys Inn hotel group in 2015 for £680m.
The business, which has four hotels in London, another 21 across the UK, five in Ireland and one in Prague, was sold by a group of investors less than two years after restructuring its debt.
Jurys Inn employs about 2,000 people and operates 7,000 rooms.
No one from the company wished to comment.
Amaris Hospitality currently includes 89 individual hotel properties, from four separate portfolios acquired by Lone Star over the last two years, trading under brands such as Jurys Inn, Mercure, MGallery, DoubleTree by Hilton and Hilton Garden Inn.
Among them, it includes 29 Jurys Inn hotels.
Jurys here has also submitted plans to extend its Belfast city centre hotel, adding 80 new bedrooms and an office suite.
It’s understood Dalata, Ireland’s biggest hotel group, is unlikely to be among the bidders for the assets.
Market sources said the Jurys Inn chain does not probably represent good value for the group, despite Dalata’s stated aim of expanding its presence in large regional UK cities, where Jurys Inn has a sizeable footprint.
The Jurys Inn chain is likely to attract bids of up to €1.5bn (£1.3bn).
Amaris also includes other hotel brands, but the 39 Jurys Inn hotels are being sold first.
It’s thought that the remainder of the Amaris portfolio will be sold subsequently.
There are two Jurys Inn properties in Dublin, and one each in Cork, Galway and Belfast.